We will not spare rioters, says CM

An otherwise genial Akhilesh Yadav turned an angry young man on Wednesday.

Amid an uproar over the recent Muzaffarnagar riots in the assembly, the chief minister lashed out at the BJP: “It was part of a well-planned conspiracy. A political party has tried to take advantage of the issue”.

When the CM told the house, “We will not spare rioters”, the BJP may well have thought the arrest of its MLAs Hukum Singh, Sangeet Som and Suresh Rana was imminent.

He also said the BJP may try to vitiate the communal atmosphere and added the rehabilitation of riot-hit people posed a bigger challenge to his government.

“While the leaders of different parties were comparing the Muzaffarnagar clashes to Gujarat violence, these riots will always be linked to my government,” he added.

As the CM rose to speak, minister for parliamentary affairs Mohd Azam Khan urged the BJP leaders not to stage a walkout, as this would give wrong signals to the people.

While Khan sounded emotional, an aggressive chief minister attacked BJP legislature party leader Hukum Singh, who on Wednesday had justified his presence at the ‘mahapanchayat’ in Muzaffar nagar.

Singh said some youths were seen carrying “khel ka saman” (arms and ammunition) and maintained that he did not utter any provocative word in Muzaffarnagar.

Referring to the BJP leader’s speech, the chief minister said: “Didn’t you refer to arms as ‘khel ka saman’ (toys) in your speech? For you this is just ‘khel ka saman’.

The chief minister referred to some incidents in other parts of the state to make his point that the party was trying to communalise the otherwise peaceful atmosphere.

He also targeted the media for blowing issues out of proportion.

He called a news channel’s sting operation on the issue a part of a conspiracy.

“This is no sting operation. This is a well planned conspiracy,” said Yadav.

“This is ‘cut and paste’,” the chief minister remarked, hinting that the evidence being shown there was fabricated.

Referring to suspension of Gautam Budh Nagar subdivisional magistrate Durga Shakti Nagpal, the CM said action was taken against hundreds of SDMs across the country.

But a hue and cry was created over the suspension of the Gautam Budh Nagar SDM, he said.

Earlier, Khan delivered an emotional speech saying the Samajwadi Party did not need a certificate to prove its secular credentials.

He said no one could believe that his name could figure in the Muzaffarnagar riots.